A review by brandypainter
His Hideous Heart: 13 of Edgar Allan Poe's Most Unsettling Tales Reimagined by Dahlia Adler

2.0

I was excited to read this because it is a unique idea, and I love Edgar Allan Poe. Unfortunately, all the things that make Poe's stories great are watered down in these new reworking, making them just the same as any other modern day horror. Poe was a master at manipulating mood and atmosphere. The majority of these stories are completely lacking in both (the exceptions being the first story and the Anabel Lee story). I also have some serious issues with how a couple of them handled the psychology of the stories. I'm especially not comfortable with the apologist attitude of a couple of the stories that changed the murderer to angry girls. Torturous violence and murder is never justified in my opinion. My favorite is by far the first one, and it's based on a shorter, not as well known Poe. I wish I had stopped there.